A Reason
by AnimeWolfGirl16
Summary: After the incident that nearly claimed his life, Noctis was a hard person to wake up. Most thought that it was just exhaustion, but what if there was another reason as to why he slept so deeply? (One-shot)


**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, places, etc. from Final Fantasy XV (or Final Fantasy Versus XIII). It all belongs to its respectful owners.**

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A Reason

"Hey! Wait up!" Noctis shouted out, running towards the figure as it weaved and bobbed its way through the trees.

A laugh exited him as the creature halted, looking back at him with its brown eyes. Slowing to a stop beside the white creature he leaned against his knees, breathing heavily, as he tried to catch his breath. The small creature looked up at him, its brown eyes shining and it emitted a bark. A moment later, a ping was heard on the phone in his hand, causing him to look down at the device.

 _Are you ok, Noct?_

He let out a laugh before looking down at the white-furred creature, reaching down to pet its head. Ever since he had come here the first time, back during the incident, the creature had called him by his nickname.

"Just fine, Carbuncle. You just run faster than me, is all." The creature nodded its small head before beginning to walk back towards its previous destination. He jogged to catch up to it before settling into a walk as well. "Hey Carbuncle, where are you taking me tonight?"

A bark emitted once more from the creature as it continued, followed by another ping from the black cell phone.

 _Towards the sea. You did say that you've never seen it before, right?_

Noctis nodded, glancing at the forest around him. The sea had been something that he had yet to see, his father declaring that leaving the castle so soon after the incident was 'too risky'.

 _But I'm all better now…_

Since he had woken up, Noctis had come back to this forest each night, exploring its areas with Carbuncle. The creature hadn't seemed to mind, if anything, it loved the attention. They had seen various creatures as well, if Noctis remembered correctly his father had told them that they were Eidolons, as well as 'rooms' that changed to a different area each time they went through a golden ring of light.

"Are there lots of creatures there too?" Despite being here multiple times, the only creatures he had seen were the monsters that haunted the area and the Eidolons, making him wonder where all the creatures that he saw in pictures and during his daytime hours were.

 _I mean, there has to be some other friendly creature here besides the ones from myths, right?_

 _There are fish but most of them stay away from the surface, living deeper in the sea. Leviathan lives in the sea so you might get to see her tonight._

Noctis nodded, remembering the shimmering sea creature that he had met when he first arrived here. The Eidolons had yet to actually try and communicate with him like Carbuncle did, instead showing him glimpses of their true forms before vanishing from sight.

"But besides the Eidolons and monsters, are there any other creatures?"

The small white-furred fox stopped, it milky brown-eyes staring up at him, before barking once more. He glanced down when another ping came from the phone, the word on the screen confusing him.

 _No._

He glanced back up to see the creature stepping around the small lake, leaping from one rock to the next to avoid getting wet. He followed, trying to keep his balance on the small rocks, which seemed to be almost too small for his feet.

"But why aren't there any other creatures?"

 _Those creatures, the ones you see every day, are the ones who belong in the daytime. They do not exist in this realm merely because they do not belong here._

Noctis thought about that for a moment, thinking back to the doll of Carbuncle that he had in his room. It almost seemed like the creature was with him even when he was awake…

"Can you appear in my world?" The creature tilted its head at him, almost as if in confusion, causing him to continue. "Say through some other physical form?"

 _If I were able to, I would not be able to return here._ A sigh left the black-haired boy at that, before another ping was heard on his phone. _But I can watch you while awake if that's what you're meaning._

That small sentence from the white-haired creature made a smile appear on his face. It was nice knowing that despite the creature being here, with its only other friends being the Eidolons and Noctis, that it could still see what was happening when he was awake. The sun seemed to be changing color as they walked, turning the deep orange color of the evening approaching. Something else seemed to be bothering him, nagging at his conscious.

"How come I can come to this dimension then, but still go back?" The creature didn't reply right away, and when it did, the answer didn't make much sense to Noctis.

 _The Light._

"The… Light?" He repeated, as he thought back to a conversation he had listened into when sneaking around the castle. If he remembered correctly it had been shortly after the incident, not that he had been able to hear much of what the adults had been talking about. "But what is that?"

 _The reason you are able to return from this realm, along with the powers of the Crystal._

"That's not what I asked though. What is it?" Noctis stared down at the creature as it stopped, sitting down for a moment to lick its paw and bring it over its ear.

 _I'm sorry; I don't quite understand what it is either._

That caused a sigh from Noct, not that he could blame the creature if it didn't know what 'The Light' was either, but it was still quite frustrating. Carbuncle stood up once more, weaving around the boy before dashing off once more.

 _We're almost there, Noct!_

That caused the black-haired prince to forget about what they had been talking about, instead causing him to rush after the small but fast white-furred beast. He could see the beginnings of a cliff, reaching out towards the sun, as if they might be able to touch it. Excitement began to fill him the closer they got to the top, with the white-furred creature staring back at him as he ran to catch up.

 _We're he-._ The bark cut off suddenly before he was back in darkness.

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Light was the first thing to enter his vision, causing him to try and close his eyes tighter against the invasion. Ultimately he gave up when he felt a warm hand on his arm, opening his eyes slowly against the brightness of the morning light.

"Dad?" Noctis rubbed his eyes, trying to get them to focus on the figure beside him. Concerned eyes and a smile was the first thing that he focused on when he looked at his father.

"Hey son, how are you feeling?"

The first thing the black-haired boy tried to think over was if anything felt strange or hurt. When nothing did, his thoughts were drawn back to his dream, causing a pout to appear on his face.

"We were just about to go to the ocean!" A laugh emitted from his father at that, his hand ruffling the young boy's hair as he did so. They both glanced over at the stuffed doll of Carbuncle laying on the nightstand beside the bed.

"Oh were you now? Noctis nodded, sitting up a bit further in the bed, reaching over to grab the stuffed fox.

 _Sorry I had to leave so soon…_

"Well, why don't the two of us go on an adventure?" The proposition caused Noctis to look at his father, confusion in his eyes. The man only smiled, glancing once out the large window down towards where the city was. "I was thinking that it might be nice if the two of us got out of the city for a while. What do you think?"

The black-haired boy found himself nodding, clutching the white-furred creature closer towards him.

"Where would we go?"

"I was thinking about going to see your friend Luna in Tenebrae."

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 **So kind of an abrupt ending but so far that's all I had. This idea came about shortly after I played the Platinum Demo. As to why Carbuncle doesn't have a name other than its monster type, I never changed it in the demo so far. :) Anyone else excited for the end of September? I can't wait to play with the white-furred creature again in the full game! Since this is my first time writing for this archive, please let me know what you all thought! Constructive criticism is appreciated! I have a few ideas of how to continue this later on but it will be posted as a separate fanfiction.**

 **-AnimeWolfGirl16**


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